Blackhawks finally beat the Predators in triple OT, at about 1:15 a.m.
Andrew Shaw had an idea of what to expect Tuesday night at the United Center.
And, no, it wasn't another punch from Nashville's Mike Ribeiro.
“I expect a dangerous, hungry team tonight,” Shaw said hours before the Blackhawks played the Predators in Game 4 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Shaw — and all of the Hawks — knew Nashville could ill afford another loss, necessitating 3 straight victories over a team that has won two of the last five Stanley Cups and advanced to the 2014 conference finals.
The “dangerous, hungry” Predators certainly showed up early as they got the first 4 shots on goal, controlled the early pace and built a 2-1 lead after two periods. A Brandon Saad goal tied it in the third.
But the Hawks and Predators couldn't resolve it after two periods of overtime, and the game didn't end until shortly after the third period began when Brent Seabrook finally scored the game winner about 1:15 a.m.
Game 5 is Thursday in Nashville at 8:30 p.m.
Nashville scored first at 11:38 of the first period when Colin Wilson netted his fourth goal of the playoffs on the power play. After that score, the Hawks were just 10 of 13 vs. Nashville on the penalty kill in the series (76.9 percent).
It took the Hawks just 87 seconds to answer, though, as Antoine Vermette scored his first goal since being traded from Arizona at the deadline.
Vermette scored from just in front of Pekka Rinne to break a 26-game goal drought, the longest of his career. His last goal came when he was still with Arizona, on Feb. 14 against the Rangers. His last goal in a victory came against the Blackhawks five days earlier.
Vermette told CSN Chicago between periods that it felt awfully good to finally put one in the net.
“Yeah, it did,” Vermette said. “It's a little longer than expected, obviously, but it doesn't matter. You want to win and find a way, and I'm glad that's behind me now.”
The veteran center, who has played 475 straight regular-season games, sat during Games 1 and 2 of this series.
“It's one of those things as a player where you want to have a chance to compete at that time of the year and it's truly an honor to be on that team,” Vermette said. “This is a great team and there's so much positive around it. This is a great opportunity, and all I could do and can do is work hard and have a good attitude, and I try to bring that.”
The Predators took the lead when James Neal beat Darling at 17:02 of the second period. When the Preds skated off the ice 2:58 later, it marked the first time they'd outscored an opponent in the second period in 13 games.
Nashville coach Peter Laviolette was hoping to get better play in front of goalie Rinne, who stopped only 89.8 percent of the Blackhawks' shots coming into Game 4. He had turned away 17 of 18 attempts through two periods of Game 4.
“Certainly he's a world-class athlete and a big part of the reason why we're here in the playoffs,” Laviolette said before the game. “He's been amazing for us all year long. … If I'm being honest — and I've probably said this for the fourth time today — I think we as a group could have done been better behind him and we're going to try and fix that tonight.”
Coach Joel Quenneville said his team's success against Rinne stems from the fact that the Hawks are getting traffic in front, thus making it tough for Rinne to see the puck.
“You need people to influence his sight lines and second opportunities are going to be better than first ones,” Quenneville said. “If he sees the puck, it's tough to beat him. His size and his anticipation are high end, and that's what we've got to look to do — more pucks and bodies and see how that works.”
• The Predators' 126 shots on goal ranked second among teams coming into Game 4, just 4 behind Montreal. The Hawks have yet to outshoot the Preds in the series.
• Nashville has won its last two quarterfinal appearances (Anaheim in 2011 and Detroit in 2012). Those are the Predators' only series victories, though, in the team's 16-season history.